Lessons in Politics Podcast

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Writes about Politics & Elections, from a 'Perspective of a Polymath'. We utilize data to substantiate our framework, drawing insights from diverse domains to present viewpoints that are both tangible and pragmatic. thepoliticsin.substack.com

  1. The Astrologer Who Built a Chief Minister वह ज्योतिषी जिसने एक मुख्यमंत्री बनाया

    May 31

    The Astrologer Who Built a Chief Minister वह ज्योतिषी जिसने एक मुख्यमंत्री बनाया

    In Karnataka politics, there is a man who does not make a big move until he has spoken to his astrologer. The astrologer's name is Dwarakanath, and over twenty-five years his counsel has sat quietly behind some of the most consequential decisions in the state. The most famous piece of advice he ever gave was just three words long: if you want power, snatch it. The man who took that advice is Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar — today on the verge of becoming Chief Minister, and for decades the most relentless operator in the state's Congress. To understand how he got here, it helps to start with a horoscope. Not his own, but that of the leader he chose to build: Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, the urbane, London-educated lawyer whom Shivakumar would lift to the chief minister's chair. The story is often simplified into a single prophecy — an astrologer studying Krishna's chart, finding a Rajayoga said to confer high office, and declaring him destined to rule. The truth is more interesting. The astrologer was real, and the faith placed in him was real. But the chart that mattered most was never Krishna's. It was Shivakumar's. The astrology that shaped these events ran not from a verdict on Krishna to Krishna's rise, but through Shivakumar's own decisions — his backing of Krishna, his manoeuvres for himself, his lifelong habit of consulting the heavens before committing to the ground. The horoscope shaped the kingmaker long before it shaped the king. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    15 min
  2. The Independence Volume: Freedom, Fracture, and the Remaking of Indian Democracy-Part-5

    Feb 7

    The Independence Volume: Freedom, Fracture, and the Remaking of Indian Democracy-Part-5

    The Independence Volume: Freedom, Fracture, and the Remaking of Indian Democracy The Constituent Assembly that gathered on the night of 14 August 1947 was not assembling for another round of deliberation. It was performing an act of constitutional rupture. For over a year, the body had debated resolutions, appointed committees, and argued over the architecture of a future state—all under the watchful authority of the British Crown. That authority was now, in a matter of hours, about to expire. What Volume V of the Constituent Assembly Debates captures is not merely the celebration of independence but the precise moment when a colonial legislature transformed itself into a sovereign one, and the consequences—exhilarating and grim—that followed within a fortnight. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    11 min
  3. The Pivot: India's Constituent Assembly in the Shadow of Partition

    Feb 3

    The Pivot: India's Constituent Assembly in the Shadow of Partition

    The Constituent Assembly that reconvened on July 14, 1947 was not the same body that had adjourned in May. Something fundamental had shifted—not in its composition, but in its purpose. Between those two sessions, the Mountbatten Plan had been announced and accepted. Partition was no longer a negotiating threat but a geographical certainty. The ambiguity that had characterized the Assembly's first year—the waiting, the deference to the Muslim League, the carefully worded resolutions designed to keep unity alive—had dissolved. What remained was the urgent work of building a state. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    15 min
  4. Five Days That Defined Indian Rights-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-3

    Feb 2

    Five Days That Defined Indian Rights-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-3

    Five Days That Defined Indian RightsBetween the adjournment in January and the reconvening in late April, the political landscape of the subcontinent had transformed. On February 20, 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that Britain would transfer power in India no later than June 1948. The announcement introduced something the Constituent Assembly had not previously faced: a hard deadline. The period of waiting and negotiation was over. Whatever constitution India would have, it would need to be drafted in months, not years. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    14 min
  5. The Week India Stopped Waiting-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-2

    Feb 1

    The Week India Stopped Waiting-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-2

    The Week India Stopped Waiting The Constituent Assembly that reconvened on January 20, 1947 was not the same body that had adjourned a month earlier. Something had shifted—not in its composition, but in its resolve. The previous session had ended with an unresolved question. Jawaharlal Nehru had moved the Objectives Resolution, a declaration of India's future as a sovereign republic. But Dr. M.R. Jayakar had moved to postpone the vote until the Muslim League joined. The recess was meant to give the League time to reconsider. By January 20, the answer was clear. The League was not coming. The Assembly now faced a choice that would define everything that followed. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    14 min
  6. The Fortnight That Constituted India-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-1

    Jan 31

    The Fortnight That Constituted India-Constituent Assembly Debate-Part-1

    The Fortnight That Constituted India For decades, the demand had been abstract: self-rule, independence, swaraj. The Indian National Congress had passed resolutions, led movements, filled British jails. The Muslim League had articulated its own vision of the subcontinent's future. The British had offered proposals, rejected demands, and offered proposals again. But until December 1946, no body of Indians had ever gathered with the explicit mandate to write the fundamental law of the land. The Constituent Assembly was the product of the Cabinet Mission Plan of May 1946—a British attempt to transfer power while preserving some semblance of unity. The Plan envisioned an Assembly elected indirectly through provincial legislatures, with seats allocated by community and population. It was a compromise riddled with ambiguities, particularly regarding the "grouping" of provinces and the powers of the center. But it was also the first legal framework that permitted Indians to draft their own constitution. The proceedings began at 11:00 AM on December 9, 1946, in Constitution Hall, New Delhi. Only 207 members attended. The Muslim League had boycotted. The Princes were largely absent. Yet this diminished gathering would, over the next two weeks, accomplish something no assembly in Indian history had attempted: it would constitute itself as a sovereign body, define its philosophical foundations, and construct the procedural machinery to draft a constitution. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    15 min
  7. When India Wrote Its Final Lines

    Jan 30

    When India Wrote Its Final Lines

    When India Wrote Its Final Lines A brief account of the Constitution’s closing stage—and its unresolved tensions. Between October 1949 and January 1950, the Constituent Assembly stepped into its final act—not to “wrap up” a document nearly three years in making, but to decide the kind of country India would become. In those last weeks, the biggest questions weren’t about commas or clauses. They were about first principles: Would the Constitution begin with God—or with the people? Should it commit India to an economic ideology forever? Could a democracy survive without fraternity in a society built on hierarchy? And when the time came to sign, would the Assembly leave the nation with unity—or unresolved doubt? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    14 min
  8. How India Made Its Constitution: A Guided Reading Through Five Landmark Works

    Jan 26

    How India Made Its Constitution: A Guided Reading Through Five Landmark Works

    The framing of India’s Constitution (adopted 26 January 1950) has inspired deep historical and analytical studies. We examine five seminal works – Granville Austin’s The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (1966), B. Shiva Rao’s multi-volume Framing of India’s Constitution (Select Documents) (1968), Subhash C. Kashyap’s Our Constitution (1994), Madhav Khosla’s India’s Founding Moment (2020), and Rohit De & Ornit Shani’s Assembling India’s Constitution (2024) – each offering a distinct lens on India’s constitutional birth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thepoliticsin.substack.com

    13 min
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Writes about Politics & Elections, from a 'Perspective of a Polymath'. We utilize data to substantiate our framework, drawing insights from diverse domains to present viewpoints that are both tangible and pragmatic. thepoliticsin.substack.com

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